Between labour control and worker empowerment: Authoritarian innovations and democratic reforms in Mexico

Abstract

This paper analyses authoritarian innovations in the industrial relations arena in Mexico since 2018. Historically, corporatist ties with union elites allowed the government to control labour at the workplace level and resist substantive labour reforms at the national level through ‘ghost unions’ and ‘protection contracts’. Since the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-oriented MORENA party, the government has implemented labour reforms and a reformed trade and investment treaty with the US and Canada that includes stronger labour provisions. These changes opened new possibilities for independent, democratic, and strong unionism and thus the potential for worker empowerment. Yet authoritarian innovations embedded in the national and regional reforms have limited labour's power. These meso-level mechanisms include: state bureaucratic control over union formation, collective bargaining and the right to strike; 2 state support for incumbent union control over worker voting processes; and exclusion of sectors from access to redress under an inter-state trade and investment treaty (USMCA). The authors explore this argument through case studies involving agriculture, auto parts, and maquiladora workers in three regions of Mexico.